Up to 250,000 smear tests from women in Ireland were read in labs in the United States and UK which were unapproved and not inspected by CervicalCheck.
This was revealed in the second report of Dr Gabriel Scally into the CervicalCheck scandal. It had been believed that only six labs carried out cervical screening but the figure was actually 16, with 10 unapproved centres used.
221 women, some of whom have died, were not told of an audit carried out on their smear tests after diagnosis. Dr Mary McAuliffe is Assistant Professor and lecturer in Gender Studies at UCD. She says these revelations underline how neo-liberal economics have influenced decision-making in the provision of health services.
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